Portland Timbers Man of the Match: Midfield Mastery

After scoring the opening goal, it looked like the Portland Timbers would be able to see out last night's match against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Unfortunately it was not to be as the two sides fought to a 1-1 draw. The Timbers could not find the winning goal in a match up with their Cascadian rivals, but several players did put in excellent shifts against the Whitecaps and we have picked our selections for the Man of the Match from them.

Ryan: Darlington Nagbe

Nagbe was a thorn in the side of the Vancouver Whitecaps. He constantly was able to gather the ball and distribute to a person in a dangerous area. Not only did he create chances for the Timbers but on numerous occasions he tracked back to help defensively and once even stood up Camillo on the edge of the box.

Stacey: Diego Valeri

After the hard and dangerous foul by Rusin, Valeri got angry, in a good way. He spent much of the game tearing up Vancouver's defense; unable to stop him any other way, all they could do was foul him. (Unfortunately, the ref opted not to call a number of those fouls.) He created good chances for the Timbers, including that nice little chip to set Ryan Johnson up for the goal.

Will: Diego Valeri

Valeri took abuse from the Whitecaps all evening with the ridiculous foul from Brad Rusin being the worst of the lot. Valeri absorbed the punishment and bounced back time and time again, eventually unlocking the Whitecaps' packed in defense with a fantastic chip. Between him and Darlington Nagbe, the Timbers had the Whitecaps on the back foot for most of the night and with some more clinical finishing across the board their efforts surely would have given the Timbers the win.

There are our picks, but what are yours? Vote in the poll below and let us know why in the comments.